Tips To Grow Your Twitter

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Monthly Archives: February 2013

It’s 2013 and many small businesses may have experienced a significant drop in ranking. Some believe they will never fully recover and internet marketers are going crazy trying to figure out ways to fix their mistakes.

But if there’s one thing we are all sure about then that is Twitter is one of the most powerful marketing tools out there at the moment. It is estimated Twitter users will grow by five million in the U.S. alone, reaching 36.3 million users by the end of 2013 (this sourced by eMarketer).

So what can small businesses do to improve their SEO with the powerful tool that is Twitter. First of all, the company should look at it’s appearance. It must have a good account name, preferably one that pertains to the company, and it should be short. Account names are incredibly searchable. Almost anything you type into Google will have a Twitter pal to go with it. Say you want to use a small freight company to send of material overseas – you type in their name and they will have a twitter account – it’s guaranteed that will be one of the first things that appears on the first page. So the name is important – it must correlate with the brand name. Your ‘handle’ must also be searchable. (For those who do not know, the handle is like your username and is what comes after twitter.com/freightcompanyforexample) It can be changed at all times but it’s important to keep it the same so as not to cause any confusion. Always have your website’s URL on your profile.

The second thing you must do is optimise your bio and make sure you have good photos. It’s a good idea to put hashtags into your bio, so for example, if you are a freight company use something like #freight or #transport. Search engines use Twitter bios constantly. Use as many keywords as possible – but also try to make it an entertaining bio. Bio’s are important – it is usually the deciding point on whether someone wants to follow you or not.

Of course, it is important to make sure everyone knows you have a Twitter account. This means advertising it on all platforms, including in the signature of your emails, having a twitter icon on your website, on all your blogs and so on. You get the picture.

You must also make sure you follow the right people – there is no need to follow spammers and bride-seller professionals. If you follow the right people the right people will follow you.

The last but not least most important thing you should consider is what you are tweeting. Try to keep everything industry-related but also light-hearted and interesting. Also, try to add as much multi-media to your tweets, people love photos and videos. Re-tweet to get re-tweets, tweet regularly, try to involve yourself in conversations with other fellow like minded individuals and READ your feed. Very often people will not read their newsfeed – it’s important to know what goes on there. Understand your followers – get to know them -figure out what interests them. Another important tip is to make sure you keep your tweets short – this makes them retweetable. Re-tweets are obviously top priority if you want to reach new audiences. The golden rule is to never forget to use URL shorteners such as Bit.ly – sticking a huge link into your tweet makes you look hugely unprofessional – I suggest bit.ly because it provides a good analytics tool which you can make use of when trying to analyse your stats and clicks.Lastly, you must multi-task. What I’ve done is I’ve opened up two twitter accounts – one that is directly related to the company – with a company logo and a company bio. I’ve also created a separate personal account which includes my company’s URL. That way I can have twice as many followers and spread my content faster and quicker. It may sound a bit too time-consuming for small companies but it’s totally worth the time. I promise, if you tweet right, people will respond. For more tips on Twitter email Ronny Lee at ronboi11.rr@gmail.com or follow me on twitter @RonnyRod1

With each new day we are becoming photographers and artists who use more and more social networks, and in particular, many are beginning to enter the world of Twitter. Very simply, I wanted to focus on some ideas that might be interesting in your handling and positioning within this application that allows us to send messages to the world in a 140-character format.

1. As I mentioned in the article the The 10 Big Rules of Photography. Or so I think … , we must be willing to share our knowledge. More or less, the community will value us more if we are generous with our professional colleagues. As I have read in several places, Twitter works based on the Karma: The more you supply, the more you get back.

2. We are allowed to tweet 140 characters. Take advantage of them. Think about the essence you want to convey to your followers, while looking for a concise language, that is simple and friendly. If we choose a username too long, it will affect the characters that we have available, affecting our interactions with others.

3. Ask yourself who will be your followers. As part of our branding and brand image, we must be consistent with our messages and be dynamic every day. It is a good idea if we create a fund that matches our image, giving greater cohesion along the way. At the same time, find and locate gurus or personal tweets on the topics that interest you most.

4. It is preferable not to use too many # hashtags. Some search engines may consider these messages as spam .

5. When starting a web page, or a Facebook artist page, select the name of the account in a cautious and smartly manner. In my opinion, it is better transparency, also choose a recognizable name; you might have to match the artist name, brand or company. The final product should be simple, and straightforward.

6. Review your followers. I regularly, check my account, and lock or delete all accounts that do not give me credibility, or in any way, undermine the image of my business I ethic. If you take the time to learn about your followers, you are offered more tools to interact, and create synergistic relationships in the network.

7. Choose wisely times in which the world will follow your posts. Do not forward to the community the same materials repeatedly, and select cautiously. If you want to share a piece of material that has great value with your followers, you can rewrite the message, playing around with language.

8. We must always respect others. You may not agree on some ideas, but creating bad energy in our actions with our different networks will likely, have a negative effect on our karma. Take time to thank your RTs, and other positive comments that you receive, along with others that are useful, and provide guidance: This great tool allows for constructive criticism to the community and its members.

9. Read and educate yourself on the proper handling of Twitter. Some books that I recommend include:

Being a musician, you have one fantastic advantage over everyone else: you can make music. And if people take time out to listen, jam with you or even shell-out to watch you doing it in a dingy venue, how hard can it really be to attract an audience on Twitter?

Loudmouth rockstars have had a platform to gob-off since time began. The birth of the internet made it easier, blogs made it easier still and now, Twitter is the latest icing on the cake for communicating. In 140 characters or less, of course.

But while @britneyspears‘ record label can Tweet about ‘shopping trips to Coral Gables for purses and sunglasses’ (yay!) and still attract 362,781 followers (and counting), the average bedroom beatmaker is going to have to try a bit harder.

We’ve put together the 27 tips you’ll need for successful music Twittering – from basic etiquette to chart-domination and every Tweet in-between. If you make music and you’re not on Twitter: start here. If you’re already a member: STOP, and start again from here…

27 engaging Twitter tips for musicians

1. Have an objective

What do you want to achieve? If you want to widen your fanbase by building a Twitter community around yourself, talk about making music and eventually try to take over the world, you’ve come to the right place. Knowing what you want is half the battle, stick to the following and you’ve a great chance of achieving it…

2. Be descriptive

Choose an appropriate username, don’t call yourself @TheDarkKnight if your band is called Loose Change. Provide as much information in the bio section as you can – believe it or not, people will read it, as you should read theirs…

3. Get to know your audience

People fill their bios in for a reason – read them, see what they’re into and talk about it. That way you will…

4. Engage with your followers

The golden rule. Don’t just talk about yourself, take an interest in everyone else. Reply to messages and be as personal as possible. If it’s good enough for Trent Reznor…

5. ENGAGE WITH YOUR FOLLOWERS

Seriously, it’s that important. More of how to do it effectively below.

6. Learn from the pros

7. Get noticed, make headlines

John Mayer makes the news merely by Tweeting about going to the toilet. He’s an international celebrity bed-hopping superstar, however, so we’ll have to try harder. Paul Smith was an unknown blogger from Newcastle, UK, before mutating into the headline-grabbing @twitchhiker. His faithful followers offer him accommodation and choose his next round-the-world destination. So do the musicians’ equivalent…

8. Think big

It could be as simple as allowing fans to choose your setlist, but why stop there? Let them plot your tour. The bigger you think, the better. Twitter is still relatively young so, like Paul Smith, it’s not too late to be a trailblazer.

9. Talk topical

A fail-safe way to get noticed is to have an opinion… on anything. OK, perhaps Noel Gallagher’s relentless spiel of social commentary can grate after a while, so let’s keep on subject. Talk about the music you like, make and the gear you make it with.

10. Search for it

The social networking industry (that’s Facebook, MySpace, Twitter etc to you and me) is making a lot of fuss about Twitter’s search functionality. It’s advanced, so let’s use it. Search for keywords and join in other conversations.

11. Be specific

The search facility is ‘advanced’, remember? If you want to talk about your new synthesizer, don’t just search for ‘synth’, search for “Moog Little Phatty” etc. The quotations tell the search engine you’re interested in a specific string of words.

12. Eliminate the useless

You can also use the minus sign (-) to eliminate words: search for “Moog Little Phatty” –virtual, if you’re only interested in hardware, for example.

13. Or, let Twitterfall do the hard work

There are countless applications for keeping up-to-date with Twitter. Twitterfallis one of our favourites for following trends and feeding us content we care about most (er, music). Twitterfall’s concept is explained rather neatly here.

14. Use the hash tag (#)

When you’ve finally decided what you’re going to Tweet about, add a hash tag to your keywords like this: “Anyone else going to #SXSW this year?” It helps the search functionality and helps people find you.

15. Retweet

Copying is a form of flattery (unless it’s copyright material, of course!), so follow your peers and Retweet their most interesting content. Write ‘RT @musicradar‘ followed by the Tweet you want to copy. Hopefully they’ll repay the favour, spreading your updates around for all and sundry to see.

16. Always use the @ tag before a username

If you click on the reply link next to, say, one of MC Hammer’s Tweets, the reply box opens up with an @ before the username (@MCHammer). If you’re referring to any other Twitter user, always manually add the @ tag. It creates a link back to their Twitter homepage and, as before, hopefully they’ll repay the favour. More eyes = more followers = more exposure for your music.

17. Follow the 90/10 rule

“90% of what you share on Twitter should be made up of personal insights and thoughts along with a heavy dose of helpful links, while 10% should be made up of messages that more directly benefit you.” TwiTips 90/10 argument is a compelling one – try and stick to it.

18. Use Twitpic

Everybody loves looking at pictures – it’s easier than reading and can be a lot more insightful. Post a photo of your new guitar, a studio session or even the sorry excuse for a backstage area at your local pub’s gig night. The average Joe will be impressed, even if you weren’t.

19. Share your music

Don’t forget you’re a musician – so share you music! Post interesting remixes and demos or early tracks that your new-found audience might not be aware of. You can post links to YouTube or your MySpace page in the usual way but if you’re feeling adventurous use Twt.fm of Blip.fm. Sign-up for a DJ account and amaze your audience with your musical taste.

20. Share your work-in-progress

Don’t stop at demos, either. If you’re working on a dance track, post the half-finished drum loops. Or if you’re recording with a full band, post the separate guitar parts as you go.

21. Ask for opinion

Asking a fan or fellow music maker for their opinion might sound dangerous, but allowing them involvement in the creative process will endear them to you no end. Hey, if it’s good enough for Kanye West…

22. Why not collaborate?

Back to thinking big: if you’ve recorded a track, why not put a shout out to would-be remixers to give it a going over. Or get others to upload their own guitar solos – you might end up recruiting a new band member!

23. Offer exclusive content

Reward your Twitter crew with music unavailable elsewhere. It might be an early demo, or an alternative take that never made the cut, either way, your faithful followers will feel rewarded and, hopefully, boast about it to all their friends…

24. Find locals, secure your immediate fanbase

Not only can you search Tweets by the language they were written in, you can search by the location they were written. Enter your postcode into the ‘places’ section of Twitter’s advanced search feature and choose a search radius (within 10 miles, for example). Ideal for communicating with locals and offering local discounts, perhaps?

25. Follow industry types, bug them

You’ll probably find a number of music executive types will, eventually, come round to the idea of using Twitter. When they do, you’ll be a seasoned pro. Keep an eye out for newcomers, befriend them and bug the hell out of them until they give you some attention. You might even get signed (hey, think big, remember?).